Elderlaw Project

Cases & Credits

A nursing home resident and victim of identity theft and fraud

The Project was contacted by the son of an elderly woman, Ms. C., who was in a nursing home. Her son had received a call from a collections company claiming he and his mother had approximately $8,500 arrears on a credit card. The collections company was very aggressive and threatened to take Ms. C. to court.

After investigating, the project's staff discovered that a former home health aide had used Ms. C.'s card over the course of a month. The collections firm conceded that this appeared to be a case of identity theft and fraud, and thus waived the debt.